Suspension-hook



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WV. WOODWARD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SUSPENSION-HOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of VLetters Patent No. 267,656, dated November 14, 1882.

Application filed April Il, 1882. (No model.) i i pension devices or hooks for chandeliers and not essential to my improvement.

like devices, which in use occupy a vertical position but it is applicable generally to all hooks which in use occupy such a position.

The object of my improvement is to provide a suspension-hook of the class named with a simple, cheap, and desirable latch or tongue, which will prevent the accidental detachment from them ofthe articles which they suspend.

To this end my invention consists in a suspension device comprising a hook having a swinging tongue attached to the portion of the hook above the opening, and having at the opposite side of said opening an uptu'rned end or lip, whereby the tongue is prevented from swinging `past the end of the hook, as hereinafter fully described and claimed. I thus effectually guard against any accidentaldetachment from the hook of the article suspended by it. This I accomplish without the use of a spring, or even of a weight additional to that of the material necessary to form the tongue, and hence I produce a suspension-hook provided with a tongue which is very simple and cheap. Y,

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure lisa side view of a `suspension device embodying my improvement; and Fig. 2 is a view thereof, taken in a plane at right angles to Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in both figures.

A designates the hook, and B a screw-shank, whereby it may be fastened to a ceiling or other support. The hook may be made of cast metal or other suitable material, and it may be of any desirable shape.` As shown, it is .flat-sided, and ot1 an angular contour instead of being rounded; but, a-s I have already intimated, these characteristics of its shape are The screwshank B may be made separately, according to any approved method and of any appropriate material, and may be secured to the hook by casting the latter around it; but in some cases it may be cast as an integral portion of the hook.

C designates the tongue or latch-bar. lt is pivoted to the portion of the hook which is above the opening, and hangs down u'nder the iniiuencefof gravity, so that its lower end will bear against or occupy a position close to the portion of the hook which is below the opening. As here shown, the upper end of the tongue or latch-bar is bifurcated, so that it will fit on each side and'embrace a lug, a., with which the portion of the hook above the opening is provided. A pin, b, passing through the upper bifurcated end of the tongue orlatchbar and the lug a, forms a simple and cheap pivotal connection between the latch-bar and hook.

It is obvious thatV the hook may have two lugs or bifurcated portions and the tongue or,

latch-bar a single lug or narrowed portion tting between them and secured, as before, by a pin, b, with good results.

lf preferable, a singlelug on the hook vmay be provided on opposite sides with teats, and the tongue or latch-bar may be made of two `longitudinal parts, provided in their opposite faces with recesses corresponding to and adapted to iit loosely on 'the lugs. A rivet, screw, pin, or equivalent means will then be employed to secure the-two parts of the latch-bar together. All these constructions will prevent the latchbar from swinging laterally out of line with the hook.

It will be readily understood that when the ring or suspending-loop ofa chandelier or other article is pressed against the tongue or latch' bar the latter will yield inward so as to permit the entrance of the said ring or loop into the hook, and that after the said ring or loop has passed-the latch-bar the latter will resume its normal position and guard the entrance to the hook, so that the ring or loop cannot be accidentally removed from the hook.

A tongue or latch-bar arranged and adapted to hang by gravity in a vertical position and guard the opening ofthe hook is greatly supe rior to one which occupies a different position, for several reasons.

lt need have no spring for Ico' be seen that it is superior both as regards sim; plicity and cheapness in addition to having a moreelegantappearanoe. Obviouslyatongue or latcl'rbar hanging vertically by gravity againstorolose to theportion of the hook below the opening would be preferable to one which should bear against the inside ofthe hook at an angle, for the reason that in thelatter case the hook will have to be madelarger and more ungainly, especially at the top, in order to afford the same space within thehook. For this reason I prefer the construction firstdescribed. The hook in either case will need to have a slightly-wider opening than ifit were not pre vided with a tongue or latch-bar, in order that the space between the portion of the hook below the opening and the latch-bar, when swung back, shall be' equal t0 the opening of an ordinary hook.

I have shown the lower end of the hook as upturned or provided with a lip, e, extending l upwardly above the lower end of the latchbar. Ofcoursemysuspension-hookisdesigned for use in a verticalposition only.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a suspension device, the hook A, having a swinging tongue, C, attached to it above its opening, and provided With the upturned end or lip c, whereby the tongue is prevented from 3o swinging'past the 'end of the hook, all substantially as and for the purpose stated.

GEORGE W. WOODWARD.

Witnesses: T. J. KEANE,

ED. L. MoRAN. 

